The Health of your pet takes a team effort

Wellness, or preventive care, has become a touchstone in human and veterinary medicine. Preventive care is designed to keep your pet healthy, to diagnose problems early and treat them before they become more serious. This not only benefits your pet, it benefits you by saving time, money and heartache. None of us like to visit the doctor, and pets are no different, but short routine visits are much easier on everyone than extensive testing, hospitalization or surgery. We recommend monthly visits for your puppy or kitten from 8 weeks of age until 6 months. Generally this coincides with vaccinations, deworming, initial blood tests and neutering surgery. From age 1-8, we recommend yearly examinations. Not only can we check for early signs of disease, we assess dental health, discuss weight, diet, behavior and anything else you may be concerned about. After age 8, we often recommend more frequent visits, usually twice a year, especially if your pet has developed any conditions that we need to monitor. Remember, dogs and cats age much more quickly than we do so this schedule is similar to us visiting our doctor every 4-5 years when we are young and every 1-2 years as we reach our mature years.